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Collaborative Online International Learning

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) promotes virtual, interactive educational opportunities by connecting faculty and students through shared experiences across international borders. Other terms used in global education for similar initiatives include virtual exchange, global digital exchange, and telecollaboration. 

In the COIL model, faculty from NC State and colleagues at institutions abroad collaborate on parts of their courses to incorporate educational activities that promote global learning and cultural competency. Examples of collaboration can range from shared components from course syllabi, cross-cultural dialogues and group projects, all the way to deep, full-semester partnerships.

How does COIL work?

Using internet-based technology (i.e. Zoom, Padlet, and other instructional tools), faculty from NC State partner with colleagues from colleges or universities abroad to identify shared learning objectives in similar or related courses where content may overlap. They may co-design a shared course, or simply co-design  one interactive session that emphasizes experiential and collaborative student-centered learning. Students participate in sustained, deliberate interactions with their peers abroad, developing deeper cultural understanding.

Why COIL?

Students engage with peers from the partner institution to learn from each other and reflect on their perspectives as they complete shared projects. The goal is to create opportunities for professors and students to have meaningful international and intercultural learning experiences from their home campuses. A secondary goal is to motivate interest and foster self-confidence to participate in future study, travel, or work abroad.

Through virtual teamwork, participants build their intercultural communication and critical thinking skills—key competencies for effective global citizenship and employment. While the international component of the course takes place online, the individual courses may be fully online or may be blended with traditional face-to-face sessions taking place at both schools. The course is graded and credited through the enrolled student’s university.

Benefits of COIL

Benefits for Students

  • Interactive format makes it more appealing to participate in class 
  • Provides real time global engagement with peers without leaving home.
  • Increases accessibility to global learning for those who cannot or who have not previously considered travel abroad.

Benefits for Faculty

  • Increases student engagement in both course content and assignments due to the collaborative nature of the curriculum.
  • Offers funding opportunities for curriculum development and implementation.
  • Builds relationships with global partners that may lead to future collaboration in other areas, including research and grant funding.
  • Supports Global Learning For All and the broader NC State Strategic Plan.

“My experience with Nagoya introduced me to COIL. This semester, I have collaborated with Dr. Miho Iryo and have been able to connect her class with some of my ES 400 students. This has been an amazing experience and has inspired me to incorporate COIL into my future classes as well. Working with Dr. Iryo has been a fantastic experience. I appreciate her creative approach to teaching and her ability to engage both of our classes.” – Megan Lupek, Assistant Teaching Professor, Co-Director Environmental Sciences Program, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, NC State University

Below Dr. Makoto Kobashi from Nagoya University shares his experience about participating in a COIL-type course for the first time. Learn more here.

Getting Started

How do I get started?

Incorporating curricular online global learning into a course involves collaborating with a faculty member abroad. Need contacts?  NC State Prague and the NC Japan Center can assist in making connections in the Czech Republic and Japan. You can also search the COIL Connect for Virtual Exchange website. This website is dedicated to connecting higher education faculty around the world who are interested in COIL. Membership is free and NC State is an institutional member so your course can be added to the database if you are seeking a partner. 

Want to meet others on campus who are interested in COIL?  Join the COIL Faculty and Staff Learning community. Here you can learn more about ways in which you can provide international experiences to your students within your courses, share resources about how to internationalize your curriculum, and help foster cross-discipline collaboration. Sign up here.

Contact the Office for Faculty Excellence at faculty-excellnce@ncsu.edu with questions about setting up a COIL project or request a consultation with an OFE staff member here.

Once you have identified and connected with an international partner, consider how you will most effectively incorporate COIL into each of your courses. To start:

  • Identify areas of overlap with your course and that of your colleague. 
    • Can you offer a full semester of shared learning and interaction, or is a smaller-scale collaboration of several sessions a better fit?
    • Even an exchange of guest lectures is a great starting point for building collaborative relationships that may lead to more interactive opportunities in the future.
  • Student interaction between the two classes (one at NC State, and one at an international institution), should preferably be synchronous. 
    • Time zone considerations will be critical here.  One option is to make these sessions part of an “international experience” for your class and not tied to the regular meeting times to allow for time differences.
    • Encourage students to connect asynchronously outside of class time.

Activities of successful COIL programs often include:

  • “Icebreaker” session: the scope and expectations of the interaction are explained, group assignments are made, and everyone can get to know each other through macro or group-level activities.
  • Shared materials: both cohorts should have access to the same shared learning materials for their collaboration; these can take the form of articles, lectures, TED talks, and so on.
  • Measurable outcome: your collaborative learning objectives should have some kind of deliverable (i.e. project, presentation, problem solving, lab completion).

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